Catherine Abadie-Reynal

Project Goal

Save the cultural treasures of two ancient cities before they are flooded by a dam

Location: Turkey

"We could not have imagined that a city on the oriental front could be as rich as it is. The houses were as beautiful as houses in Ephesus or Pompeii.”

Archaeologists regularly travel back in time as they unearth the secrets of our past. But rarely do they have to race against the clock, as was the case recently in Turkey, where the construction of a dam was set to flood two exceptional ancient Greek and Roman cities.

French archaeologist Catherine Abadie-Reynal was among those who worked feverishly to uncover the mysteries of Zeugma, one of the flooded sites, before its treasures were lost forever to humanity.